Thursday, August 28, 2014

Park Volunteer’s Photos Display Beauty

Everglades National Park volunteer
Paula Baxter calls herself “another 70-year-old on an adventure.” For the past
six years she has trekked through wilderness exploring the park’s beauty from
the Anhinga Trail to Flamingo. She takes photos all along the way.

Baxter’s
photo exhibit, her second since 2011, was on display Dec. 1-31 at the Ernest F.
Coe Visitor Center Gallery in Everglades National Park.She shared her finds of nature in photos as
“a glimpse into the lives of (the park’s) creatures and the ecosystems they
inhabit. Each is a testament to the need to preserve and protect this unique
environment.” Baxter called her second show More
Gifts From the Everglades. There was a “Meet the Artist” reception for her
at the gallery on Dec. 15. “I am an amateur photographer, self taught, but it’s
hard not to get good pictures with such beauty surrounding you,” she said.

The
Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center Gallery has a mission “to educate, enhance and
enrich the visitor’s understanding and esperience of Everglades National Park through
quality Everglades’ specific exhibit; foster a unique opportunity for the
future generations of Park stewards to learn about the Everglades.” Monthly
exhibits there feature the work of artists, including students, of all ages.

By Christina Mayo, Special to The Miami Herald, Sunday
November 24, 2013

Baxter
also regularly volunteers at the visitor center, engaging visitors about things
to do, where to go to see wildlife, and provide advice on photograhpy.She also explores rarely visited areas of the
park with park volunteers, Rick and Jean Seavey, who are on a mission to
identify every lichen in Everglades National Park.Read blog (New Lichen Publication Feb 20, 2014) to learn more about the Seaveys.

To plan a day trip to the gallery and park, go to www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm. The
visitor center is after the park’s main entrance at 40001 State Road 9336,
Homestead, FL 33034.